If there's anything sadder in tech circles than a pathetic Windows fan still trying to convince himself that Windows 8.x has been anything except a total failure, it would have to be someone who believes that Steve Ballmer did anything during his tenure as Microsoft's CEO other than set the company up to follow in the footsteps of failed U.S. carmakers.

Scot Finnie, Computerworld's editor in chief, recently spelled out Ballmer's shortcomings. Bottom line: Microsoft lost its vision. Instead of being a leader, it's been playing catch-up in mobile, tablets and search while losing its way on the desktop with its user-hostile Metro interface.

You don't have to believe us. Look at the numbers. Microsoft's board cut Ballmer's bonus because of an 18% decline in Windows Division operating income and a $900 million inventory charge related to Surface RT.

The most well known in technology circles is Stephen Elop. He's a former Microsoft executive, so that qualifies him, right? Oh yeah, he also led Nokia to ruin. There's a crazy theory that Elop was a Microsoft plant at Nokia, sent to wreck it and make it cheaper to buy. Definitely crazy, until you try to come up with a reason for him to be a serious candidate that makes any sense.

Satya Nadella has overseen Microsoft's money-losing online business lines, such as Bing.

Kevin Turner is Microsoft's COO. In that role, he's been in charge of Microsoft's ad sales, sales and marketing, and public relations since 2006. Well, I guess it isn't really his fault that his teams couldn't make winners out of dogs like Windows 8.x, Windows Phone, Zune and Surface.

The one person the Microsoft board is considering who seems like a reasonable choice is Tony Bates. The former CEO of Skype has shown that he can handle both the tech and management sides of business. But I doubt they'll pick him. He's only been with Microsoft since 2011.

But where are the visionaries? How about a leader who can radically transform a business? I don't see any. Can any of them make a slow company agile enough to compete against nimble players like Amazon, Apple and Google? I don't see that happening. Instead, I see the 2010s shaping up as the decade of Microsoft's decline.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was cutting-edge and 300bps was a fast Internet connection -- and we liked it! He can be reached at sjvn@vna1.com.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting-edge PC operating system, 300bps was a fast Internet connection, WordStar was the state-of-the-art word processor, and we liked it!